J Bioenerg Biomembr DOI 10.1007/s10863-014-9539-y

Involvement of mammalian bilitranslocase-like protein(s) in chlorophyll catabolism of Pisum sativum L. tissues Carlo Peresson & Elisa Petrussa & Antonio Filippi & Federica Tramer & Sabina Passamonti & Uros Rajcevic & Sendi Montanič & Michela Terdoslavich & Vladka Čurin Šerbec & Angelo Vianello & Enrico Braidot

Received: 7 November 2013 / Accepted: 16 January 2014 # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Abstract Putative pea bilin and cyclic tetrapyrrole transporter proteins were identified by means of an antibody raised against a bilirubin-interacting aminoacidic sequence of mammalian bilitranslocase (TC No. 2.A.65.1.1). The immunochemical approach showed the presence of several proteins mostly in leaf microsomal, chloroplast and tonoplast vesicles. In these membrane fractions, electrogenic bromosulfalein transport activity was also monitored, being specifically inhibited by anti-bilitranslocase sequence antibody. Moreover, the inhibition of transport activity in pea leaf chloroplast vesicles, by both the synthetic cyclic tetrapyrrole chlorophyllin and the heme catabolite biliverdin, supports the involvement of some of these proteins in the transport of linear/cyclic tetrapyrroles during chlorophyll metabolism. Immunochemical localization in chloroplast sub-compartments revealed that these putative bilitranslocase-like transporters are restricted to the thylakoids only, suggesting their preferential implication in the uptake of cyclic tetrapyrrolic intermediates from the stroma during chlorophyll biosynthesis. Finally,

the presence of a conserved bilin-binding sequence in different proteins (enzymes and transporters) from divergent species is discussed in an evolutionary context. Keywords Chlorophyll metabolism . Bilitranslocase . Leaf . Pisum sativum . Bilin transport . Stem Abbreviations Ab Antibody ABC ATP-binding cassette BSP Bromosulfalein BTL Bilitranslocase Chl Chlorophyll MRP Multidrug resistance-associated protein MV Microsomal vesicles PM Plasma membrane

Introduction Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10863-014-9539-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. C. Peresson : E. Petrussa : A. Filippi : A. Vianello : E. Braidot (*) Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Section of Plant Biology, University of Udine, Via delle Scienze 91, 33100 Udine, Italy e-mail: [email protected] F. Tramer : S. Passamonti Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, via Giorgeri 1, 34127 Trieste, Italy U. Rajcevic : S. Montanič : M. Terdoslavich : V. Čurin Šerbec Blood Transfusion Centre of Slovenia, Šlajmerjeva 6, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Land plants possess three major cyclic tetrapyrroles (chlorophyll, heme and siroheme), representing co-factors for essential proteins (photosystem complexes, cytochromes, hemoglobins, nitrite and sulfite reductase, nitrogenase), as well as a linear tetrapyrrole (phytochromobilin in phytochrome) (Vavilin and Vermaas 2002; Mochizuki et al. 2010). Their synthesis takes place almost exclusively in chloroplasts, starting from 5-aminolevulinic acid via a common branched pathway (Vavilin and Vermaas 2002; Mochizuki et al. 2010). Among these pyrroles, chlorophyll (Chl) is an essential metabolite for light energy capturing in the main photosynthetic organisms (cyanobacteria, algae and land plants). Chl

J Bioenerg Biomembr

biosynthesis, similarly to those of siroheme and heme, initially occurs in the stroma. Only Chl biosynthesis pathway, branching off the formation of protoporphyrinogen IX, continues in both envelope and thylakoids, while the last step of phytol esterification is confined to the thylakoid (Mochizuki et al. 2010; Joyard et al. 2009). The pathway of Chl breakdown, similarly to heme degradation in plants and animals, involves the oxidative cleavage of porphinoid macrocyclic ring (Mochizuki et al. 2010; Kräutler and Hörtensteiner 2006). In land plants this pathway leads to the formation of red pigment (linear fluorescent bilin) intermediates and then to accumulation of the final products of Chl breakdown, identified as colourless linear tetrapyrroles, called “non-fluorescent” chlorophyll catabolites (Kräutler and Hörtensteiner 2006). Differently from land plants, in green algae only linear red pigments, as Chl degradation end-metabolites, are produced (Kräutler and Hörtensteiner 2006; Engel et al. 1991). Chl degradation becomes an essential mechanism for recycling of nitrogen resources and for some developmental processes (e.g. fruit ripening and senescence), since it allows protection against potentially phototoxic Chl intermediates and catabolites (Hörtensteiner and Kräutler 2011). Significantly, the expression of many Chl catabolism-related genes is induced in response to several biotic and abiotic stresses, or during cell death events (Hörtensteiner and Kräutler 2011). Chl catabolism implicates that its degradation products are exported from the chloroplast and imported into the vacuole of mesophyll cells, as in other detoxification processes (Hörtensteiner and Kräutler 2011; Matile et al. 1996, 1999). Catabolite transport through these membranes has been demonstrated to occur by so far unidentified active membrane transporters (Hörtensteiner and Kräutler 2011). Tonoplast transporters so far identified belong to the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) subfamily (Hinder et al. 1996; Lu et al. 1998; Tommasini et al. 1998). An example is represented by a multidrug resistance-associated transporter (AtMRP2) (Frelet-Barrand et al. 2008). Cyclic tetrapyrroles also need to be transported through plastid membrane for their export to other subcellular compartments (Mochizuki et al. 2010). At present, scarce information is available regarding transport mechanism(s) of tetrapyrroles in plants (Mochizuki et al. 2010), except for the candidate of heme transporter, named Arabidopsis tryptophan-rich sensory protein (TSPO), a homologue of the protoporphyrin-binding mammalian benzodiazepine receptor (Lindemann et al. 2004; Vanhee et al. 2011). In addition, ABC subfamily transporters could also accomplish heme and porphyrin transport across chloroplast membrane, similarly to what reported for Chl catabolite (Mochizuki et al. 2010). In mammalian systems, one of the major candidates for the hepatic uptake of heme catabolites (tetrapyrrolic biliverdin and bilirubin) from the blood is a plasma membrane anion carrier, named bilitranslocase (BTL, TC No. 2.A.65.1.1)

(Passamonti et al. 2005a). This transporter is also expressed in the vascular endothelium, as well as in gastrointestinal (absorptive), hepatic and renal (excretory) epithelia (Maestro et al. 2010; Ziberna et al. 2012; Passamonti et al. 2009). Other BTL substrates are flavonoids (i.e. anthocyanins (Karawajczyk et al. 2007)) and nucleotides (Zuperl et al. 2011). Thus, mammalian BTL may function as a dietary flavonoid transporter in vascular endothelium cells (Maestro et al. 2010). In addition, BTL-like proteins have been identified by immunological and enzymatic studies in different membrane vesicles of plant organs (e.g., carnation petals, grape berries (Passamonti et al. 2005b, 2009; Braidot et al. 2008; Bertolini et al. 2009)), where they are hypothesized to be involved in intracellular membrane transport of flavonoids. This study aimed at investigating the occurrence of BTLlike proteins in pea (Pisum sativum) seedlings, a particular developmental stage where chlorophyll synthesis and turnover could be rapidly induced after illumination. For this reason, pea seedlings represent a useful model to study heterotrophic tissues (dark grown) in comparison to autotrophic tissues (light grown). Immunological approach using a monoclonal antibody raised against a segment of rat liver BTL polypeptide was performed. The main result showed the presence of these transporters in pea photosynthesizing organs. In detail, BTL-like proteins were found both in chloroplast and tonoplast membranes of pea leaf, suggesting their putative involvement in Chl metabolism, as carriers of some cyclic tetrapyrrole intermediates or bilin catabolites, respectively.

Materials and methods Plant material and chemicals Etiolated pea (Pisum sativum L. cv. Alaska, Pioneer) stems (70 g fresh weight) were obtained by growing seedlings on sand for 7 days, in the dark, at 25 °C and 60 % relative humidity. Green pea stems (70 g fresh weight) were obtained by growing pea seedlings for 7 days, in the light (8 h continuous cycles), at 25 °C and 60 % relative humidity. Pea leaves (30 g fresh weight) were obtained by growing pea seedlings for 14 days, in the light (8 h continuous cycles). Unless otherwise specified, reagents were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich. Isolation of microsomal vesicles from pea stem and leaf Microsomal vesicles (MV) from pea stem and leaf were isolated by homogenization in 190 ml of 0.25 M sucrose, 20 mM HEPES-Tris pH (7.6), 5 mM Na-EDTA, 1 mM DTE, 1 mM PMSF, 0.6 % PVPP and 0.3 % BSA at 4 °C with

J Bioenerg Biomembr

a mortar and pestle and filtered through 100 μm nylon gauze. The homogenate was centrifuged at 2 800×g for 5 min in a Sorvall RC-5B centrifuge (SS-34 rotor) and the supernatant was subsequently centrifuged at 18 000×g for 12 min. The supernatant was collected and ultracentrifuged at 120 000×g for 36 min in Beckman L7-55 ultracentrifuge (Ty 70ti rotor, Fullerton, CA, USA). The pellet was further washed in 100 ml of 0.25 M sucrose, 20 mM HEPES-Tris (pH 7.0) and finally resuspended in 0.5 ml of the above buffer at a final protein concentration of 3–5 mg ml−1 and stored at −20 °C. Protein concentration was determined by the method of Bradford (Bradford 1976), using bovine serum albumin as the standard. Isolation of chloroplast vesicles from pea leaf Chloroplasts from pea leaf were isolated by centrifuging the homogenate at 200×g for 5 min in a Sorvall RC-5B centrifuge (SS-34 rotor) and subsequently the supernatant at 1 800×g for 5 min. The pellet, containing chloroplasts, was resuspended in 50 ml of 0.25 M sucrose, 20 mM HEPES-Tris (pH 7.0) and sonically irradiated (100 W, 30 s) in an ice bath by a Braun Labsonic 1510 Ultrasound generator (Melsungen AG, Germany). The suspension was finally ultracentrifuged at 120 000×g for 1 h in a Beckman L7-55 ultracentrifuge (Ty 70ti rotor, Fullerton, CA, USA). The pellet (chloroplast vesicles) was finally resuspended in 0.5 ml of the above buffer at a final protein concentration of 2–3 mg ml−1 and stored at −20 °C. Purification of plasma membrane and tonoplast vesicles from pea leaf Plasma membrane (PM) and tonoplast vesicles were isolated as described in Passamonti et al. (2005b), except that the 13 g two-phase system contained 6.7 % (w/w) Dextran T500 and 6.4 % (w/w) PEG3350. Purification of pea leaf thylakoid and envelope membranes Thylakoids and envelope membranes from chloroplast were isolated from pea leaf as described in (Gualberto et al. 1995) with minor modifications: grinding buffer used was 50 mM Hepes-KOH (pH 7.3), 0.33 M Sucrose and 2 mM EDTA.

Clara, CA, USA) at 663 and 646 nm, respectively. The total Chl content was determined according to the equations:  Chl a mg ml−1 ¼ ½12:21ðA663 Þ–2:81ðA646 ފ  Chl b mg ml−1 ¼ ½20:13ðA646 Þ–5:03ðA663 ފ

and converted to μg Chl mg−1 protein (Wellburn 1994). Western blotting Membrane proteins (30 μg) were separated by SDS-PAGE in 12 % polyacrylamide gel under reducing conditions as described in Passamonti et al. (2005b), with minor modifications: the samples were denatured at 80 °C. Immunoblotting was also performed, as described in Passamonti et al. (2005b), using the monoclonal purified antibody (Ab) at a concentration of 0.32 μg IgM ml−1. Primary Ab MAP 2A8 was prepared by fusion of spleen lymphocytes with mouse myeloma NS1 cells using hybridoma technology. Mice were immunized with a multi-antigen peptide corresponding to segment 65–75 (EDSQGQHLSSF) of predicted primary structure of the bilitranslocase protein (Battiston et al. 1998). In a sequence of cell fusion, subcloning, immune- and functional tests, a specific monoclonal Ab MAP 2A8 was obtained. The immune reaction was detected by the activity of the alkaline phosphatase, conjugated to anti-mouse IgG Ab (1:30,000) developed in rabbit and able to also recognize IgM, as certified by the manufacturer SIGMA. Equivalent amounts of purified monoclonal Ab of the same isotype against blood group antigen B were used as negative controls.

Electrogenic bromosulfalein transport assay Bromosulfalein (BSP) electrogenic transport assay was performed in pea subcellular fractions (20 μg of total protein) as previously described (Bertolini et al. 2009; Passamonti et al. 2010). Inhibition of the electrogenic BSP uptake by the antiBTL Ab was examined after preincubation of pea leaf MVand chloroplast vesicles with increasing concentrations of the Ab (0.5–3 μg) at 25 °C for 5 min. Inhibition of the electrogenic BSP uptake was also examined in chloroplast vesicles by adding 50 μM of the porphyrin chlorophyllin and the bilin biliverdin to the assay medium.

Marker assays of different membrane fractions ATPase activities (vanadate-sensitive, marker of PM enzyme; bafilomycin A1-sensitive, marker of tonoplast enzyme; oligomycin-sensitive, marker of mitochondrial enzyme) were assayed as described in (Passamonti et al. 2005b). Chl (marker for chloroplast membrane) was extracted in acetone and detected by a diode spectrophotometer 8453 (Agilent, Santa

Statistics Data on electrogenic BSP transport are provided as mean ± S.D. of at least three independent plant extracts. Immunoblotting results are representative of at least three independent plant extracts.

J Bioenerg Biomembr

Results

A

In order to identify BTL-like proteins in various pea organs and cell organelles, different membrane fractions were obtained from pea stems and leaves. Expression of the BTL-like protein(s) in darkand light-grown pea stem and leaf microsomal vesicles

Electrogenic BSP uptake in pea stem and leaf microsomal vesicles

B Electrogenic BSP uptake rate -1 -1 mg prot.)

The expression pattern of the BTL-like protein(s) in pea organs was obtained by immunoblot analysis of MV isolated from etiolated stem, green stem (light-grown) and leaf, after the separation of the proteins by SDS-PAGE (Fig. 1, panel a). The western blot shows that the anti-BTL Ab weakly reacted with a protein with an apparent molecular mass of approx. 70 kDa in etiolated (lane 1) and green (lane 2) stem MV. Instead, in leaf MV (lane 3) this Ab strongly reacted with a protein of approx. 70 kDa, but also with other two proteins with an apparent molecular mass of approx. 30 and 23 kDa, respectively. No reaction was detected when negative control was used (data not shown). A Western Blot assay was performed using anti V-ATPase as endogenous control to verify that similar protein concentration was present in the different membrane fractions (see Fig. 1S in the Supplementary Material).

2.5

2.0

1.5

1.0

0.5

0.0 0

Figure 1 (panel b) shows the valinomycin-dependent BSP uptake, at increasing concentrations, in MV isolated from different (etiolated and green stem, leaf) pea organs. The obtained three hyperbolic curves allowed to calculate the following Michaelis-Menten parameters: in MV obtained from etiolated stems (circles) Vmax =0.40±0.02 μmol BSP min−1 mg−1 protein and KM =1.22±0.30 μM BSP; in MV obtained from green stems (squares) Vmax =0.77±0.05 μmol BSP min−1 mg−1 protein and KM =4.91±1.18 μM BSP; in MV obtained from leaves (triangles) Vmax =1.24±0.09 μmol BSP min−1 mg−1 protein and KM =3.40±1.04 μM BSP. Marker assays in different membrane fractions In pea leaf, MV derive from the plasmalemma and different organelle membranes. The sub-fractionation analysis described in Fig. 2 (panel a) shows that the MV fractions mainly consisted of both plasma membrane and tonoplast, since the ATPase activity was partially inhibited by both vanadate (PM ATPase inhibitor) and bafilomycin A1 (tonoplast ATPase inhibitor); by contrast, mitochondrial contamination was not relevant, since oligomycin (mitochondrial ATPase inhibitor) did not affect significantly the ATPase activity (Fig. 2, panel a). The extent of the inhibition of ATPase activity by vanadate and bafilomycin A1 increased drastically in the fraction of PM (approx. 75 %) and

5

10

15

20

25

30

Fig. 1 Expression of the BTL-like proteins and evaluation of transport activities in MV isolated from differently illuminated pea organs. Panel a original western blot of protein expression in pea MV proteins (approx. 30 μg protein) obtained from etiolated stem (lane 1), green stem (lane 2) and leaf (lane 3). The values on the left represent the apparent molecular mass of molecular standards. Panel b characterization of electrogenic BSP transport into MV isolated from etiolated stem (black circle), green stem (black square) and leaf (black triangle). The dependence of the initial rate of electrogenic BSP uptake on BSP concentration was fitted to the equation V = Vmax[BSP]/(KM + [BSP])

tonoplast (approx. 72 %) vesicles, respectively, due to the purification procedure. In addition, the Chl measurement showed that the contamination of chloroplast in PM and tonoplast vesicles was, respectively, strongly reduced at approx. 48 % and 37 %, when compared to that of the microsomal fraction. Finally, Chl contamination in the microsomal fraction isolated from pea leaf was lower than in chloroplast membrane (approx. 46 % of Chl content in chloroplast, Fig. 2, panel b).

Expression of the BTL-like protein(s) in pea leaf tonoplast, plasma membrane and chloroplast vesicles The expression pattern of the BTL-like protein(s) was further evaluated in pea leaf membrane vesicles by using the same

J Bioenerg Biomembr 200

120

80 120 60

-1

40 40

protein

80

20

pl as t no

br a em m a Pl as m

To

e ic ro so m M

Pl as Mic r m a o so m em m e b To ran no e p C hl las or t op la st

0 ne

0

Fig. 2 Marker enzyme activities and Chl content in different isolated membrane fractions obtained from pea leaf. All enzyme activities were performed in the presence of 0.01 % (w⁄v) Triton X 100, for taking into account of the latent activity. Panel a shows ATPase activities: black bars, 1 mM ATP (control); grey bars, 1 mM ATP + 400 μM Vanadate; dark grey bars, 1 mM ATP + 100 nM Bafilomycin A1; light grey bars, 1 mM ATP + 1 μg/ml Oligomycin. Panel b shows chlorophyll content

anti-BTL Ab (Fig. 3, panel a). In this case, two proteins at approx. 12 and 70 kDa were present with a weak signal only in tonoplast vesicles (lane 2), whereas the Ab strongly reacted with the protein at approx. 23 kDa and weakly with other two proteins at approx. 30 kDa and approx. 50 kDa, present in chloroplast vesicles (lane 3). No reaction was shown in PM vesicles (lane 1), as well as in all these samples when negative control was used (data not shown). Electrogenic BSP uptake in pea leaf tonoplast, plasma membrane and chloroplast vesicles The dependence of BSP uptake rate on the substrate concentration in the pea leaf membrane vesicles is shown in Fig. 3, panel b. In agreement with the above described result, chloroplast vesicles (circles) showed a higher BSP uptake with respect to tonoplast vesicles (squares). In plasma membrane vesicles (triangles) no BSP uptake was detectable. Even in this case, the data fitted the Michaelis-Menten equation and the derived parameters are V max = 2.02 ± 0.13 μmol BSP min−1 mg−1 protein and KM =3.05±1.03 μM BSP in chloroplast vesicles and Vmax =0.69±0.08 μmol BSP min−1 mg−1 protein and KM =5.94±2.49 μM BSP in tonoplast vesicles. Inhibition of electrogenic BSP uptake in pea leaf microsomal and chloroplast vesicles Vesicles obtained from both leaf microsomes and chloroplasts were preincubated with different amounts of anti-BTL Ab with the aim of confirming whether a BTL-related protein catalyzed electrogenic BSP uptake. Figure 4 shows that in leaf MV the anti-BTL Ab inhibited BSP uptake in an Ab

B Electrogenic BSP uptake rate -1 -1 mg prot.)

-1

100

160

-1

nmol Pi min mg protein

A

B

A

2.5

2.0

1.5

1.0

0.5

0.0 0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Fig. 3 Expression of the BTL-like proteins and evaluation of transport activities in different subcellular membranes of pea leaves. Panel a original western blot of protein expression in enriched vesicle fractions obtained from pea plasma membrane (lane 1), tonoplast (lane 2) and chloroplast (lane 3) (approx. 30 μg protein). The values on the left represent the apparent molecular mass of molecular standards. Panel b characterization of electrogenic BSP transport into chloroplast (black circle), tonoplast (black square) and PM (black triangle) vesicles isolated from pea leaves. The dependence of the initial rate of electrogenic BSP uptake on BSP concentration was fitted to the equation V = Vmax[BSP]/ (KM + [BSP])

concentration-dependent manner, in both leaf MV and chloroplast vesicles. Inhibition data were fitted to either a sigmoid equation, y = y0 + a/{1 + e−[(x−x0)/b]}, or a hyperbolic decay equation, y = y0 + (a*b)/(b + x), respectively. It could be calculated that maximal transport inhibition by the Ab (parameter a) was approx. 46 % and 69 %, in MVand chloroplast vesicles, respectively. In addition, both kinds of vesicles exhibited uninhibited transport activity when pre-immune sera were used, instead of the anti-BTL Ab (data not shown). Finally, in chloroplast vesicles the transport activity was inhibited (approx. 40 %) by the chlorophyllin, a semisynthetic porphyrin derivative of Chl degradation (Fig. 5) and, at the same rate, by biliverdin, a linear tetrapyrrolic bile pigment, which is a product of heme catabolism.

J Bioenerg Biomembr

chloroplast (outer plus inner) envelope fractions (lane 3), and such evidence was also confirmed in fractions from spinach leaf (data not shown).

Residual initial rate (%)

100 80 60

Discussion

40 20 0 0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

Fig. 4 Inhibition induced by increasing concentrations of anti-BTL Ab on electrogenic BSP transport in pea leaf MV (black triangle) and chloroplast vesicles (black circle). The initial rate was expressed as a percentage ± S.D. with respect to the control (without anti-BTL Ab). Data obtained from pea leaf MV were fitted (r2 =0.994) to the sigmoid y = y0 + a/{1 + e−[(x−x0)/b]}, where the parameters found were: y0 =54±2.4; a= 46±4.8; x0 =0.85±0.08 μg; b=−0.20±0.07 μg. Data obtained from chloroplast vesicles were fitted (r2 =0.994) to an hyperbolic decay function y = y0 + (a*b)/(b + x), where the parameters found were: y0 =31±3.9; a=69± 4.4; b=0.51±0.12 μg

Expression of the BTL-like protein(s) in pea leaf chloroplast subcompartments To further study the sub-organellar localization of BTL-like protein(s) in chloroplasts obtained from pea leaf, an immunoblot was performed after the separation of envelopes and thylakoids (Fig. 6). As it can be seen, a positive crossreaction was observed at the level of the lower band at 23 kDa in both chloroplast (lane 1) and thylakoid vesicles (lane 2). In the latter membranes, an increase in the intensity of signal was observed, indicative of an enrichment of these proteins during fractionation and purification of chloroplast sub-compartments. There was no significant signal in the

-1

mg prot.)

-1

BSP uptake rate

1.2

a

1.0

b

0.8

b 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0

Control Chlorophyllin Biliverdin

Fig. 5 Inhibition induced by 50 μM of tetrapyrrole chlorophyllin and bilin biliverdin on electrogenic BSP transport in chloroplast vesicles isolated from pea leaves. Uptake rate of the control was normalized as to 1 μmol BSP·mg−1 protein·min−1. Means were compared by LSD (Least Significant Difference) according to Fisher’s statistical test, and different letters assigned to means designate a statistical difference at P≤0.05

In this work, the presence of protein(s), related to mammalian BTL, was identified in pea tissues, by using an Ab raised against the bilirubin-binding domain of rat liver BTL (Battiston et al. 1998). At least one of these proteins exhibited transport activity, as assessed by monitoring BSP uptake in different types of vesicles. These results are in agreement with those previously obtained in carnation petals (Passamonti et al. 2005b), where bilirubin interacted as a high-affinity ligand of both BTL and BTL-like proteins of liver and carnation microsomes, respectively. The inhibition of electrogenic BSP transport in chloroplast vesicles by chlorophyllin, biliverdin and the anti-BTL Ab (Figs. 4 and 5) is consistent with the hypothesis that these proteins might also be able to mediate a transport of both linear and cyclic tetrapyrroles. The expression pattern of BTL-like protein(s) and transport activity were correlated with the presence of a higher level of Chl and, presumably, of photosynthetic activity in pea green tissues (leaf > green stem > etiolated stem) (Fig. 1, panels a and b). In addition, a similar correlation with the photosynthetic metabolism could be found at sub-cellular level, because chloroplast membranes exhibited the highest level of BTLlike protein(s) and transport activity, when compared to plasma membrane and tonoplast (Fig. 3, panels a and b). The kinetic parameters, in particular Vmax, of the transport activity measured in leaf MV and chloroplast vesicles are also similar and support this correlation. Moreover, the titration of the transporter protein(s) with the anti-BTL Ab (Fig. 4) confirms that chloroplast vesicles were richer than leaf MV in BTL-like transporter. Its localization in pea chloroplast thylakoids was specifically assessed by immunochemical assay (Fig. 6) and confirmed in spinach chloroplasts (data not shown). In addition, the sigmoidal pattern, exhibited by anti-BTL Ab inhibition in leaf MV, supports the hypothesis that the whole phenomenon may be due to the activity of more than one transporter given the membrane heterogeneity of these vesicles. On the contrary, in the case of chloroplast vesicles the hyperbolic curve, describing Ab inhibition, suggests the involvement of a unique protein in the transport activity. Taken together, all the immunochemical results show that the protein bands, reacting with anti-BTL Ab in chloroplast and tonoplast membranes, possess different apparent molecular masses. Assuming that no proteolysis occurred, these data might suggest that the transporter could be composed by different monomeric components building up a multimeric protein. Current work on predicting the 3D structure of bilitranslocase from its primary sequence by multiple

J Bioenerg Biomembr

Fig. 6 Expression of the BTL-like proteins in different subcellular compartments of pea leaf chloroplasts. Original western blots of protein expression in enriched vesicle fractions obtained from pea chloroplasts (lane 1), thylakoids (lane 2) and outer and inner envelopes (lane 3) (approx. 30 μg protein). The values on the left represent the apparent molecular mass of molecular standards

computational approaches suggests that the transporter has four trans-membrane domains (Marjana Novič, National Institute of Chemistry, Slovenia, personal communication). Two trans-membrane domains have been accurately characterised . Though four trans-membrane domains could form the minimal aqueous pore, the native protein could also consist of a dimer. Furthermore, other proteins could strongly associate with the monomer and co-migrate under the prevailing electrophoretic conditions. More convincingly, distinct transport proteins/enzymes with different molecular masses, but related, respectively, to chlorophyll catabolism or synthesis, might also be inferred. This feature suggests the presence of conserved domains in tetrapyrrole-binding proteins (Perdih et al. 2012; Choudhury et al. 2013). The double localization of this transporter(s) in both tonoplast vesicles and chloroplast membranes, but not in PM

Table 1 Expression pattern of bilin-recognizing proteins in different species

Apparent molecular masses are related to the specific localization of membrane proteins a b

Ref. (Passamonti et al. 2005b) Ref. (Delneri et al. 2011)

Apparent molecular mass (≈ kDa)

vesicles (Fig. 3, panels a and b), could indirectly indicate its (their) possible involvement in linear and cyclic tetrapyrrole transport into corresponding organelles. Regarding the BTLlike protein(s) present on the tonoplast membrane, they could be necessary for compartmentation of dangerous chlorophyll catabolites, as alternative carriers working in parallel with the already known ABC proteins and MRP (Hinder et al. 1996; Lu et al. 1998; Tommasini et al. 1998; Frelet-Barrand et al. 2008). The co-existence of several mechanisms for catabolite transport could be rationalized by two assumptions: i) plant metabolism is characterized by a biochemical redundancy; ii) and during steady-state turnover of Chl, huge amounts of these catabolites are accumulated in photosynthesizing cells (Hörtensteiner 2012). Therefore, these catabolites should be rapidly transported from one intracellular compartment to another, exploiting more than one mechanism of active transport. The presence of BTL-like transporter(s) in chloroplasts suggests that these proteins could be involved in Chl biosynthetic and/or degradation pathways. The lack of crossreactivity of anti-BTL Ab with protein in chloroplast envelopes implies that the export of chlorophyll degradation products and/or bilins does not involve BTL-like proteins, but rather other transporters, like ABC transporters (Hinder et al. 1996; Lu et al. 1998; Tommasini et al. 1998). On the other hand, the thylakoid localization of BTL-like protein(s) in pea chloroplasts (Fig. 6) and their different apparent molecular mass in comparison to those of tonoplast could support the hypothesis that cyclic tetrapyrroles are their preferential substrates rather than bilins, whose synthesis occurs instead in the stroma (Mochizuki et al. 2010; Joyard et al. 2009; Ferro et al. 2002, 2010). Indeed, since protoporphyrin IX is formed inside the thylakoid lumen, the uptake of its precursor protoporphyrinogen IX from the stroma, where the previous biosynthetic steps are localized, is necessary (Mochizuki et al. 2010). The accumulation of this intermediate and in particular its Mg-bound form is essential also for the chloroplast to nucleus signalling and affects tetrapyrrole biosynthesis

Flowering plants

Fish

Mammals

Pisum sativum

Dianthus caryophyllus

Dicentrarchus labrax

Rattus norvegicus

12 23 30 38

Vacuole Chloroplast Chloroplast Vacuole

– – – Vacuolea

– – – Microsomesb

– – – Plasma membraneb

50

Chloroplast

Plasma membranea Vacuolea

Microsomeb

Plasma membraneb

70

Vacuole Vacuole

a

Plasma membrane –

b

Microsome

Microsomeb Microsomeb

J Bioenerg Biomembr

(Surpin et al. 2002). Nevertheless, it has to be stressed that inhibitory activity of biliverdin on BSP uptake (Fig. 5) suggests that also linear tetrapyrroles interact with this BTL-like thylakoidal protein, similarly to what observed for phycobiliprotein in thylakoids of red algae and Criptophyta (Glazer and Wedemayer 1995; Ludwig and Gibbs 1989; Su et al. 2010). The presence of chloroplast proteins, reacting with antiBTL Ab raised against the bilirubin-binding domain, could be understood also in an evolutionary scenario. As previously described (Battiston et al. 1998), the amino acid sequence (residues 62–80) of the putative polypeptide chain of BTL, referred to as catalytic site, shows a high similarity (11 out of 19 residues) with a number of phycobilin-binding phycocyanins from several species of cyanobacteria, but also with a phycoerythrin of prochlorophyte species, a marine prokaryote (Hess et al. 1996). It is already known that the chromophore of phycobiliproteins is an open tetrapyrrole structure similar to bilirubin, whose building block (pyrrole) is involved in numerous functional molecules (i.e. cytochromes, chlorophyll, etc.). Therefore, it is not surprising that the sequence of this catalytic site recurs in different enzymes/transporters involved in bilin-based processes, the most ancestral of which is found in cyanobacteria. In the latter prokaryotes, a protein (approx. 20 kDa) has been shown in Calothrix (Hess et al. 1996; Santiago-Santos et al. 2004), corresponding to a component of phycobilisome, the light-harvesting antenna of cyanobacteria, known to contain phycobilins. This apparatus necessarily evolved early in cyanobacteria, because linear and cyclic tetrapyrroles were essential for energy capture (chlorophylls and phycobilins) and as components of electron transport proteins (cytochromes). When cyanobacteria were then engulfed by a protist (primary endosymbiosis) to become plastids, this machinery was transferred to the arising eukaryotic cell (red algae, green algae, Glaucophyta and plants). This event was followed by secondary, tertiary and (perhaps) quaternary endosymbiosis, so that the enzymes/transporters related to processing hemecontaining molecules could widespread in other algal organisms (Keeling 2010). In photosynthetic eukaryotic cells the heme-synthesizing genes soon formed a mosaic pathway, because some of the cyanobacterial genes were transferred to the nucleus (Obornik and Green 2005). This picture can help to explain why our Ab recognized more than one protein, with different molecular masses, particularly in green organs and chloroplasts, but also why BTL-like proteins are present in evolutionary divergent organisms, such as flowering plants, fish and mammals (Table 1) (Passamonti et al. 2005b; Delneri et al. 2011). Further work is needed to chemically characterise these various proteins, none of which seems to be encoded by annotated genes. The nucleotide sequence of rat liver bilitranslocase displays 96 % homology to the antisense strand of a segment of the ceruloplasmin cDNA. Thus it seems that a

sense-antisense pair encode for either the ceruloplasmin or bilitranslocase (Passamonti et al. 2009). The results here discussed could help to shed light on the metabolism and accumulation of bilins in plants. Actually, it appears crucial to further investigate in detail the final steps in the synthesis of photosynthetic pigments, as well as their final targeting into thylakoidal membranes. The presence of a BTLlike protein also in the tonoplast, suggests a possible involvement of these transporters during chlorophyll degradation, since the vacuole represents a compartment where catabolic metabolites are accumulated. Aiming at fulfilling these questions, it would be necessary to purify the protein, for improving our knowledge about BTL-like primary structure and its similarities and/or homologies with other well-known transporters. In this frame, it will be essential the detailed comparison with the mammalian counterpart. Acknowledgments This work was supported by European Regional Development Fund, Cross-Border Cooperation Italy-Slovenia Programme 2007–2013 (TRANS2CARE and AGROTUR projects). Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

References Battiston L, Passamonti S, Macagno A, Sottocasa GL (1998) The bilirubin-binding motif of bilitranslocase and its relation to conserved motifs in ancient biliproteins. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 247(3):687–692. doi:10.1006/bbrc.1998.8868 Bertolini A, Peresson C, Petrussa E, Braidot E, Passamonti S, Macri F et al (2009) Identification and localization of the bilitranslocase homologue in white grape berries (Vitis vinifera L.) during ripening. J Exp Bot 60(13):3861–3871. doi:10.1093/Jxb/Erp225 Bradford M (1976) A rapid and sensitive method for the quantitation of microgram quantities of protein utilizing the principle of protein-dye binding. Anal Biochem 72:248–254 Braidot E, Petrussa E, Bertolini A, Peresson C, Ermacora P, Loi N et al (2008) Evidence for a putative flavonoid translocator similar to mammalian bilitranslocase in grape berries (Vitis vinifera L.) during ripening. Planta 228(1):203–213. doi:10.1007/s00425-008-0730-4 Choudhury AR, Perdih A, Zuperl S, Sikorska E, Solmajer T, Jurga S et al (2013) Structural elucidation of transmembrane transporter protein bilitranslocase: conformational analysis of the second transmembrane region TM2 by molecular dynamics and NMR spectroscopy. Biochim Biophys Acta Biomembr 1828(11):2609–2619. doi:10. 1016/j.bbamem.2013.06.006 Delneri A, Franca R, Terdoslavich M, Montanic S, Serbec VC, Tramer F et al (2011) Identification and functional characterization of bilitranslocase in sea-bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) hepatopancreas. Anal Lett 44(18):2887–2900. doi:10.1080/00032719.2011.582548 Engel N, Jenny TA, Mooser V, Gossauer A (1991) Chlorophyll catabolism in Chlorella protothecoides—isolation and structure elucidation of a red bilin derivative. FEBS Lett 293(1–2):131–133. doi:10.1016/ 0014-5793(91)81168-8 Ferro M, Salvi D, Riviere-Rolland H, Vermat T, Seigneurin-Berny D, Grunwald D et al (2002) Integral membrane proteins of the

J Bioenerg Biomembr chloroplast envelope: identification and subcellular localization of new transporters. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 99(17):11487–11492. doi:10.1073/pnas.172390399 Ferro M, Brugiere S, Salvi D, Seigneurin-Berny D, Court M, Moyet L et al (2010) AT_CHLORO, a comprehensive chloroplast proteome database with subplastidial localization and curated information on envelope proteins. Mol Cell Proteomics 9(6):1063–1084. doi:10. 1074/mcp.M900325-MCP200 Frelet-Barrand A, Kolukisaoglu HU, Plaza S, Ruffer M, Azevedo L, Hörtensteiner S et al (2008) Comparative mutant analysis of Arabidopsis ABCC-type ABC transporters: AtMRP2 contributes to detoxification, vacuolar organic anion transport and chlorophyll degradation. Plant Cell Physiol 49(4):557–569. doi:10.1093/Pcp/ Pcn034 Glazer AN, Wedemayer GJ (1995) Cryptomonad biliproteins—an evolutionary perspective. Photosynth Res 46(1–2):93–105. doi:10. 1007/Bf00020420 Gualberto JM, Handa H, Grienenberger JM (1995) Isolation and fractionation of plant mitochondria and chloroplasts: specific examples. Methods Cell Biol 50(50):161–175. doi:10.1016/S0091-679x(08) 61029-8 Hess WR, Partensky F, vander Staay GWM, Garcia Fernandez JM, Borner T, Vaulot D (1996) Coexistence of phycoerythrin and a chlorophyll a/b antenna in a marine prokaryote. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 93(20):11126–11130. doi:10.1073/pnas.93.20.11126 Hinder B, Schellenberg M, Rodon S, Ginsburg S, Vogt E, Martinoia E et al (1996) How plants dispose of chlorophyll catabolites—directly energized uptake of tetrapyrrolic breakdown products into isolated vacuoles. J Biol Chem 271(44):27233–27236 Hörtensteiner S (2012) Update on the biochemistry of chlorophyll breakdown. Plant Mol Biol. doi:10.1007/s11103-012-9940-z Hörtensteiner S, Kräutler B (2011) Chlorophyll breakdown in higher plants. Biochim Biophys Acta 1807(8):977–988 Joyard J, Ferro M, Masselon C, Seigneurin-Berny D, Salvi D, Garin J et al (2009) Chloroplast proteomics and the compartmentation of plastidial isoprenoid biosynthetic pathways. Mol Plant 2(6):1154–1180. doi:10.1093/Mp/Ssp088 Karawajczyk A, Dran V, Medic N, Oboh G, Passamonti S, Novic M (2007) Properties of flavonoids influencing the binding to bilitranslocase investigated by neural network modelling. Biochem Pharmacol 73(2):308–320. doi:10.1016/j.bcp.2006.09.024 Keeling PJ (2010) The endosymbiotic origin, diversification and fate of plastids. Philos Trans R Soc B Biol Sci 365(1541):729–748. doi:10. 1098/rstb.2009.0103 Kräutler B, Hörtensteiner S (2006) Chlorophyll catabolites and the biochemistry of chlorophyll breakdown. In: Chlorophylls and bacteriochlorophylls: biochemistry, biophysics, functions and applications. Springer, The Netherlands Lindemann P, Koch A, Degenhardt B, Hause G, Grimm B, Papadopoulos V (2004) A novel Arabidopsis thaliana protein is a functional peripheral-type benzodiazepine receptor. Plant Cell Physiol 45(6): 723–733. doi:10.1093/Pcp/Pch088 Lu YP, Li ZS, Drozdowicz YM, Hörtensteiner S, Martinoia E, Rea PA (1998) AtMRP2, an Arabidopsis ATP binding cassette transporter able to transport glutathione S-conjugates and chlorophyll catabolites: functional comparisons with AtMRP1. Plant Cell 10(2):267– 282. doi:10.1105/Tpc.10.2.267 Ludwig M, Gibbs SP (1989) Localization of phycoerythrin at the lumenal surface of the thylakoid membrane in Rhodomonas lens. J Cell Biol 108(3):875–884. doi:10.1083/jcb.108.3.875 Maestro A, Terdoslavich M, Vanzo A, Kuku A, Tramer F, Nicolin V et al (2010) Expression of bilitranslocase in the vascular endothelium and its function as a flavonoid transporter. Cardiovasc Res 85(1):175– 183. doi:10.1093/Cvr/Cvp290 Matile P, Hörtensteiner S, Thomas H, Kräutler B (1996) Chlorophyll breakdown in senescent leaves. Plant Physiol 112(4):1403–1409

Matile P, Hörtensteiner S, Thomas H (1999) Chlorophyll degradation. Annu Rev Plant Physiol Plant Mol Biol 50:67–95. doi:10.1146/ annurev.arplant.50.1.67 Mochizuki N, Tanaka R, Grimm B, Masuda T, Moulin M, Smith AG et al (2010) The cell biology of tetrapyrroles: a life and death struggle. Trends Plant Sci 15(9):488–498. doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2010.05.012 Obornik M, Green BR (2005) Mosaic origin of the heme biosynthesis pathway in photosynthetic eukaryotes. Mol Biol Evol 22(12):2343– 2353. doi:10.1093/molbev/msi230 Passamonti S, Terdoslavich M, Margon A, Cocolo A, Medic N, Micali F et al (2005a) Uptake of bilirubin into HepG2 cells assayed by thermal lens spectroscopy—bilitranslocase. FEBS J 272(21):5522– 5535. doi:10.1111/j.1742-4658.2005.04949.x Passamonti S, Cocolo A, Braidot E, Petrussa E, Peresson C, Medic N et al (2005b) Characterization of electrogenic bromosulfophthalein transport in carnation petal microsomes and its inhibition by antibodies against bilitranslocase. FEBS J 272(13):3282–3296. doi:10.1111/j. 1742-4658.2005.04751.x Passamonti S, Terdoslavich M, Franca R, Vanzo A, Tramer F, Braidot E et al (2009) Bioavailability of flavonoids: a review of their membrane transport and the function of bilitranslocase in animal and plant organisms. Curr Drug Metab 10(4):369–394 Passamonti S, Tramer F, Petrussa E, Braidot E, Vianello A (2010) Electrogenic bromosulfalein transport in isolated membrane vesicles: implementation in both animal and plant preparations for the study of flavonoid transporters. Methods Mol Biol 643:307–335 Perdih A, Choudhury AR, Zuperl S, Sikorska E, Zhukov I, Solmajer T et al (2012) Structural analysis of a peptide fragment of transmembrane transporter protein bilitranslocase. PLoS ONE 7(6):e38967. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0038967 Santiago-Santos MC, Ponce-Noyola T, Olvera-Ramirez R, Ortega-Lopez J, Canizares-Villanueva RO (2004) Extraction and purification of phycocyanin from Calothrix sp. Process Biochem 39(12):2047– 2052. doi:10.1016/j.procbio.2003.10.007 Su HN, Xie BB, Zhang XY, Zhou BC, Zhang YZ (2010) The supramolecular architecture, function, and regulation of thylakoid membranes in red algae: an overview. Photosynth Res 106(1–2):73–87. doi:10.1007/s11120-010-9560-x Surpin M, Larkin RM, Chory J (2002) Signal transduction between the chloroplast and the nucleus. Plant Cell 14:S327–S338. doi:10.1105/ Tpc.010446 Tommasini R, Vogt E, Fromenteau M, Hörtensteiner S, Matile P, Amrhein N et al (1998) An ABC-transporter of Arabidopsis thaliana has both glutathione-conjugate and chlorophyll catabolite transport activity. Plant J 13(6):773–780. doi:10.1046/j.1365-313X.1998. 00076.x Vanhee C, Zapotoczny G, Masquelier D, Ghislain M, Batoko H (2011) The Arabidopsis multistress regulator TSPO is a heme binding membrane protein and a potential scavenger of porphyrins via an autophagy-dependent degradation mechanism. Plant Cell 23(2): 785–805. doi:10.1105/tpc.110.081570 Vavilin DV, Vermaas WFJ (2002) Regulation of the tetrapyrrole biosynthetic pathway leading to heme and chlorophyll in plants and cyanobacteria. Physiol Plant 115(1):9–24. doi:10.1034/j.13993054.2002.1150102.x Wellburn AR (1994) The spectral determination of chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b, as well as total carotenoids, using various solvents with spectrophotometers of different resolution. J Plant Physiol 144(3):307–313 Ziberna L, Tramer F, Moze S, Vrhovsek U, Mattivi F, Passamonti S (2012) Transport and bioactivity of cyanidin 3-glucoside into the vascular endothelium. Free Radic Biol Med 52(9):1750–1759. doi: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2012.02.027 Zuperl S, Fornasaro S, Novic M, Passamonti S (2011) Experimental determination and prediction of bilitranslocase transport activity. Anal Chim Acta 705(1–2):322–333. doi:10.1016/j.aca.2011.07.004

Involvement of mammalian bilitranslocase-like protein(s) in chlorophyll catabolism of Pisum sativum L. tissues.

Putative pea bilin and cyclic tetrapyrrole transporter proteins were identified by means of an antibody raised against a bilirubin-interacting aminoac...
461KB Sizes 0 Downloads 0 Views